maxiewawa

One of my goals this year (and onwards) is to become an accredited interpreter. I’ve heard that they travel the world, earn good money, and find the subject interesting, so I have applied for a course. Not just anyone can do this course though, you have to sit a test before they let you in. That test was today! I turned up at TAFE College’s campus at Petersham this afternoon to take it. (TAFE = Technology And Further Education. Basically a technical college.)

For some reason, every prospective student except me was Chinese. – First language Chinese, second English. I think I was the only one the other way around. Not sure what that means… good for me because I’m a special commodity? Bad for me because the course will be tailored to Chinese speakers? Not sure.

They first had a test for our English ability. Needless to say I passed. But then they had a real challenge: a lady read a passage at natural speed, which took about two minutes, during which I had to take notes. Then I was required to repeat what she had said as closely as I could, referring to only my notes. Phew, that was hard! After the 2 minutes was up I looked at the frantic scribble in front of me and tried to piece together what she’d said. I don’t think I did too badly, but not too well. I try to console myself with the knowledge that hardly anyone would be able to do it without any practice. I have seen in my research on interpreting that shorthand is a good skill, and after that bit of the test I can see that it’s essential.

Next was our interpreting test. Oddly there wasn’t a standalone mandarin test. Like I said, 99.9% of the applicants are from China so they assume that they can speak Chinese. This was with a different examiner to the English ability test.

When I walked into the room for my Mandarin test, the first question was which level I was applying for. Now, level 3 is a professional level interpreter, level 2 is paraprofessional (ie ‘not-quite-professional). The lady giving me my English test said that I should try for professional level, since my English was obviously up to scratch, and that I have spoken Chinese since childhood. So when the Mandarin tester asked me which level I was going for, I said I wasn’t sure, but that I wanted to give level 3 a shot.

The interpreting test consisted of a conversation that might happen in a real professional context. A woman is in a real estate agent’s and she’s asking about renting/buying a house. It wasn’t a difficult conversation but the hardest part was remembering everything that was said. I’m usually good at this, when I interpret in an informal setting I can remember most of what’s said, but this was another level of difficulty. I didn’t know some words (I didn’t know the Chinese for “flight path”) and am not sure if I remembered everything. What was frustrating is that I could have probably translated simultaneously, which is when you translate what’s said without waiting for the person to stop. – This means that you don’t have to remember as much as one time. But as soon as I started doing that my examiner asked me to stop. So I had to wait for her to finish speaking before I replied with my translation. What’s also hard is that we weren’t actually in a real estate agent, so all the “cues” and “reminders” that come from actually being there weren’t. I don’t think I did too badly in any case, and considering that I had just come in cold, off the street, I did alright.

After that I had to do a sight translation. She gave me a written passage in English, and I had to just do a translation on the spot. So I just had to make it up on the spot. I found that really difficult. If you didn’t know, translating into your first language is easier than the other way around, so I was automatically at a disadvantage, translating from my first into my second. Add to that the fact that it wasn’t a conversation, but an article and I really had trouble. I haven’t done much Chinese writing (other than MSN which doesn’t really count since everything’s so short) so I struggled.

It was clear that I was having trouble. I was speaking Chinese, trying to translate the article in front of me, and at one point the examiner said “hang on, where are you up to?” which I took as a sign that I was really stuffing it up!

So anyway, I finished and felt pretty bad about it. I told her that I wanted to try level 2, and she said ok. I did a conversation again, this time between a teacher and parent, and there weren’t as many tricky words like “flight path”. I didn’t have to do a sight translation for the level 2 test, which was a relief!

Afterwards I didn’t feel so great about the test. There were a few parts that I wasn’t expecting at all (having to recite a 2 minute speech back exactly) and some other googlies I had to deal with (having to remember so much and sight translation). I was a bit bummed, but consoled myself that I hadn’t done too badly. I am hoping to get into the paraprofessional level (level 2) and it was only because my english examiner suggested I try the level 3 test that I did; I shouldnt be surprised that I found it difficult.

I find out if I got in or not next week, so wish me luck!